Christina Bartsonhttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com
Dogs, bread, and feminists make me happySat, 09 Dec 2017 09:25:22 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngChristina Bartsonhttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com
Oh Montreal!https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/oh-montreal/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/oh-montreal/#respondFri, 11 Mar 2016 01:31:59 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=241]]>I went to Montreal with my friend Jackie and here’s a video of some of the things we did in the city!

The song is “Doses & Mimosas” by Cherub.

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/oh-montreal/feed/0cdbartsonA video of Thanksgiving in Ashevillehttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/a-short-video-of-thanksgiving-in-asheville/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/a-short-video-of-thanksgiving-in-asheville/#respondTue, 29 Dec 2015 18:23:28 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=230]]>I finally finished a little video chronicling my Thanksgiving spent in Asheville, North Carolina with some family and friends. We celebrated the holiday and my dad’s birthday. Here it is.

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/29/a-short-video-of-thanksgiving-in-asheville/feed/0cdbartsonPapercuts creates community in the stackshttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/papercuts-creates-community-in-the-stacks/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/papercuts-creates-community-in-the-stacks/#respondMon, 28 Dec 2015 03:51:29 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=194Read more Papercuts creates community in the stacks]]>On a drizzly November day, stepping off Green Street into Papercuts, Jamaica Plain’s independent bookstore, is like walking to a hearth to hold your hands above the flames—immediately warming, consoling, and familiar.

Papercuts is tucked away off Jamaica Plain’s main drag, Centre Street, and the 500-square-foot bookish oasis is on the brink of its one-year anniversary, said the founder and manager Kate Layte. On Nov. 29, which also marks national Small Business Saturday, the store celebrated its first full year of operation.

“It was three years ago, when I woke up one day and was like, ‘I can do that. I can run a bookstore,’” Layte said. And she certainly created a haven for the community’s book lovers, curating a selection of over 3,500 titles suitable for a politically inclined, artistic, and curious crowd, said Layte, a Jamaica Plain resident for eight years.

“It’s partly a selfish reason, why I opened this bookstore,” Layte said. “I knew I lived in an area where there were so many talented and creative people. And honestly, how do you really meet your neighbors these days? You don’t—and the people I’ve met this past year—it’s blown my mind.”

Layte is the founder and manager of Papercuts, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary this year.

Within the year, Papercuts hosted author events, including an evening with local writer Jabari Asim for Black History Month, Layte gave a TEDx talk on the vitality and importance of the indie bookstore, and the store is slated to release an anthology, “What Happened Here: Year One at Papercuts J.P.,” containing works from all of the authors who’ve visited the store on Green Street.

Layte is the founder and manager of Papercuts, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary this year.

In the digital age, where the bookstore landscape withered and the ease of online orders besets most peoples’ desire to walk through a physical door, Papercuts achieved no small feat. Layte said its success is largely credited to the bookstores’ ability to create community engagement and meaningful discourse.

“The community wants good books to read and a space to connect,” Layte said. “It’s so funny how many people come into the store and run into someone they know, someone they haven’t seen in a while, or someone new. People are drawn to a place like this.”

Layte’s history with books is a life-long love affair. As a child, she said she spent endless hours her elementary school’s library stacks reading (mostly “Goosebumps”), and in adulthood she turned her scholastic zeal into a career. She worked at Borders and in the editorial department of Little, Brown and Company. She then earned a certificate in publishing from Boston University and became an assistant to the senior managing editor at Little, Brown.

But one day, she said she woke up and decided she’d open a bookstore. She joined the American Book Association, a national trade group for independent bookstores, which offers a book selling kit detailing the steps for starting a bookstore, she said. Layte got the kit, and began moving through the checklist, thinking about what she wanted the store to look like, what kind of inventory system she’d use, and the demographic she wanted to reach, she said. Layte said she took a series of online course, and worked with a mentor at the Small Business Association to write a business plan, too.

“I took advantage of as much as I could,” Layte said. “And I just didn’t shut up about it for two years. I made lists about everything I needed to learn—really actionable lists to see if I could really accomplish this.”

A year later, she said she’s proud of what she’s created.

“I took a leap and hoped that the community wanted it, too.” Layte said. “And then they caught me and supported me, and now we’ve built a community.”

Papercuts’ selection is carefully picked by Layte.

Her literary career came full circle when she opened Papercuts. The media events coordinator, Katie Eelman, was Layte’s former intern at Little, Brown, and her bookseller John Cleary, worked with Layte at Borders in Boston’s Downtown Crossing.

Cleary, who’s known Layte for nine years, said that when he was offered a position as a bookseller, he took it right away.

“It’s my job to know about books and to answer questions about the store and recommend my favorite reads,” Clearly said. “That’s probably the best part of working here—I get to discuss books I feel passionate about.”

Cleary said he reads a lot of political non-fiction, memoirs, some fantasy, horror, and a little bit of sci-fi, too. This motley company of genres complements Layte’s taste for books, she said. And it’s this diversity of interests that makes Papercuts’ selection honed, but varied. There’s a lot packed into the shelves in the tiny space.

Papercuts sells tote bags to carry your books.

The quality of the selection draws customers like Isha Vicaria, who lives up Green Street, into the store. She poked around the fiction section, clutching a copy of “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” that Layte helped her pick out.

“Sometimes I don’t know what I want until I hold it in my hands,” Vicaria said.

Jamaica Plain oddly lacks bookstores, Vicaria said, and Papercuts filled the void—very naturally and gracefully. Although Vicaria said she likes the convenience of online book sales, she said the store offers a more satisfying experience, a sentiment Eelman, the media and events coordinator echoed.

“Bookstores allow that curiosity and wonder,” Eelman said. “They bring in a world of different ways of thinking and being able to peruse the shelves and pick out what you might be interested in that day at the moment is truly a magical experience. I don’t think you get that experience online.”

Eelman, who plans Papercuts’ events, manages the social media and marketing, and helps produce the store’s podcast, said she feels connected to Jamaica Plain after just a year of working at the bookstore.

“It’s a place people feel welcomed and we’re fostering community and they get to be a part of it,” Eelman said.

Layte keeps the shelves stocked with works by local authors.

Papercuts engages the community in a myriad of ways—from the events to keeping local writers stocked on the shelves, to providing a space for conversations pertinent to the people of JP, to putting its residents’ art up on the walls. One of those featured artists is Susan Hardy Brown, and her work will become a bookmark to be sold at the store, said Layte.

Brown’s art currently hangs on a wall in Papercuts. It’s a collection of wooden boards painted midnight sky blue and embellished with pressed Queen Anne’s lace. Brown said she’s honored to add to the store’s homey, whimsical aesthetic.

Brown is a close friend of Layte’s most recent hire, Mike Curley, who was also Layte’s boss at Little, Brown. He’s training to help during the holidays at Papercuts, he said.

“I’m not surprised by her success,” Curley sad. “What’s amazed me is how she can interpret people’s taste. Her passion for reading is evident. It shines through and it’s a draw for customers.”

Layte helps a customer at the register.

Layte said she’s always valued bookstores for this reason; they’re a place to find solace in the stacks. This is what her TEDx talk discussed: this notion of human connection through reading that Layte said changed her life.

“When you read, you discover that you’re not alone in the world, that people have had these experiences before,” Layte said. “In books, we find real selves, real portrayals of people with depth. People have written a lot of good stuff to help us understand world, the each other, and ourselves.”

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/28/papercuts-creates-community-in-the-stacks/feed/0customer-at-deskcdbartsonLayte is the founder and manager of Papercuts, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary this year.Papercuts-store-shotPapercuts-shelvesbagsread-local--300x220customer-at-deskWhy so many poets reside and write in Jamaica Plainhttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/why-so-many-poets-reside-and-write-in-jamaica-plain/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/why-so-many-poets-reside-and-write-in-jamaica-plain/#respondWed, 16 Dec 2015 02:17:13 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=142Read more Why so many poets reside and write in Jamaica Plain]]>It only takes a handful of writers to make a city immortal, and Boston’s Jamaica Plain is certainly suspended in forever. Its rows of autumnal hued Victorian homes, otherworldly cemetery, curious biodiversity, and artistic inhabitants are inscribed onto the surface of time in lines of poetry.

Jamaica Plain seems to exert a particular gravitational pull as a place for creativity, and especially for poets. Pulitzer poet Sylvia Plath was born on Price Street near the Arnold Arboretum back in 1932, and at age 8 she published her first poem in the Boston Herald. Anne Sexton, another Pulitzer Prize winner, and poet e.e. cummings are buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.

The neighborhood’s amalgam of urbanism and nature offer a unique setting for penning a poem, as its star-studded literary history proves, and many of Jamaica Plain’s current dwellers say there’s something about the community that strings words and rhyme-inclined people together.

Sandra Storey is one of these poets. She’s lived in Jamaica Plain for 42 years, during which she’s founded the Jamaica Plain Gazette, worked as its editor-in-chief, taught poetry workshops, published poems in various literary magazines, including New York Quarterly, Friction (UK), and New Millennium writings, and performed countless works at readings across the community.

“Arts feel encouraged and supported here,” Storey said. “Poetry is not treated like an oddity.”

Store is also a member of the Jamaica Pond Poets, a leaderless writers workshop composed of 13 members who meet weekly to discuss and edit one another’s poetry. The Poets, who are in their 20th year together, are a very successful group—all members are published in literary magazines, several have won awards for their work, and a few have books and chapbooks on store shelves. Jamaica Pond Poets is a community, Storey said, and it’s helping preserve and nurture Jamaica Plain’s literary tradition.

“It helps keep poetry in the air,” Storey said.

The group also hosts poetry readings, one of which is Rozzie Reads. Dorothy Derifield is an operating committee member, and she read at the Dec. 3 event where Storey was the featured poet. Derifield is a Jamaica Pond Poet, too, and her work is in the Radcliffe Quarterly and Harvard Magazine. She’s also the director of the series Chapter and Verse, which she inherited when it was on the brink of extinction she said.

“I didn’t want it to disappear,” Derifield said. “It was important to the community.”

It’s evident Jamaica Plain residents value the arts, Storey said. She’s surrounded by artists— musicians, actors, visual artists, and writers—and it’s normal to go home and work on your art, to tend to something, she said.

“It’s easy to find people who understand what you do,” Storey said. “There are a lot of poets in JP.”

Along with historic figures Plath, Sexton, and e.e. cummings, Jamaica Plain is home to Jill McDonough, published poet and creative writing professor at University Massachusetts of Boston, Maggie Dietz, who directed the Favorite Poem Project founded by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, and the Carpenter Poets of Jamaica Plain. There’s also a handful of regular poetry readings series including Rozzie Reads, Calliope Poetry Series, Moonlighting (an LGBTQ open mic), and a fairly new series called Mr. Hip Presents, an interactive event that incorporates poetry, spoken word, and live jazz music

Mr. Hip Presents’ founder and director is Donald Vincent. Vincent grew up Washington D.C., and he’s lived in Jamaica Plain for three years now. He received his M.F.A. in creative writing from Emerson College, and he works for the Department of Home Security and leads Mr. Hip.

Vincent said he started reading and writing poetry because it offered him an alternate avenue for expression.

“Poetry is a gateway,” Vincent said. “It’s a way of living.”

The art form resonated with him, but he was frustrated with the lack of poets of color, both in his college courses’ syllabi and at poetry readings in Boston, he said. He found a need to disrupt this homogeny, to expand the community and diversify the cast and rhythms of poetry in Boston he said. So he created Mr. Hip and it found a home in Jamaica Plain.

What Vincent noted was a fairly universal social tendency known as “homophily,” which describes people’s natural preference to stick with their own kind. There’s a large vat of research showing how homogenous environments hinder creativity, which is perhaps why so many poets have flocked to Jamaica Plain—its multiplicity of voices makes people more imaginative.

“If I need some inspiration, I’ll just walk down Centre Street,” Vincent said. “Who knows what you’ll see in Jamaica Plain.”

Nethercott recently moved to Jamaica Plain this September after returning from touring Europe with her poetry. Her father was a writer and she grew up surrounded by books and storytelling, she said. She also grew up surrounded by nature, and she’s come to reside in the Boston neighborhood because it reminds her of her hometown, Brattleboro, Vermont, she said.

“It’s a woodsy artsy area, and if I was going to be in a city it seamed like a great place,” Nethercott said. “The green spaces help me handle urban life, and it has a really active arts scene.”

She’s a published, world-travelling poet and she earns a living wage writing poetry—a fact she’s proud of she said. Nethercott traveled around Europe with her typewriter on her back, writing poems to order in whatever city she found herself in. Now you can find her writing poems by the pond side and around the neighborhood in Jamaica Plain.

“I’m fascinated with the idea of storytelling not as an accessory to life, but a necessity,” Nethercott said. “The stories people tell are a way to communicate some need of society.”

The Jamaica Pond is one of Nethercott’s favorite places to find a lucrative kind of solitude for writing.

“You have access to these quiet pensive spaces where you can go and have that time for reflection, but is still has access to the city where you can find more active engagement with the city and with people,” Nethercott said. “For me, as a writer, I really need these quiet spaces to think creatively.”

“Poets I admire are very tied to place,” Campbell said. “We’re immensely impacted by the environment.”

Campbell won the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award this September. His winning poem “Bioluminescence,” is about losing a great love and it’s told through a story of cave exploration. Most of his pomes are inspired by nature, he said, and on Saturday mornings Campbell has a habit of waking up early to take walks around the pond.

“I need that,” Campbell said. “I need to be able to go for long walks where I don’t have to do anything but think and look at the world around me. And sometimes a line of poetry will come into my head and I will work out a poem, or concept for a poem in my head.”

The artistic process finds breath in Jamaica Plain, said Storey. She said the Jamaica Pond Poets is the reason she started writing poetry again after a 17-year hiatus. Storey said the community understands one another— understands the act of carrying a notebook in your back pocket, or desperately searching for a napkin and pen when a detail of life needs capturing. She said she reconnected with her poet-identity, found connections with new people, and looked at the world through a literary lens.

“Poetry is important because it gives us an alternative way to talk about the world,” Storey said. “And the atmosphere of Jamaica Plain is conducive to talking about alternate ways.”

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/12/16/why-so-many-poets-reside-and-write-in-jamaica-plain/feed/0110862559_9848a18351_ocdbartsonPulitzer Prize winning poem Anne Sexton is buried in Forest Hills Cemetery.DSC02092A birthday gifthttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/a-birthday-gift/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/a-birthday-gift/#commentsMon, 27 Apr 2015 00:45:13 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=130Read more A birthday gift]]>I’m going to turn twenty years old in two days on April 28, 2015. This birthday hasn’t snuck up on me, though. It’s an age I’ve thought a lot about. Twenty. It’s heavy, significant, learned, a little intimidating, challenging, thrilling, youthful, and new.

I’ve always felt that you grow into an age. The day after your birthday you don’t feel the weight of that extra year yet. You feel the age you were yesterday, and for a while you catch yourself hesitating before you reply to: “How old are you?” It takes a while for this number to settle into your bones and for your mind to fill it out. Twenty feels significant, and it’s a place I’d like to sink into for a while.

I’m on the brink of twenty. Optimistically, this means I’ve lived roughly one-fifth of my life. In this fifth, I’ve become increasingly aware of what it means to be a young woman in this world, and in the last year or so, I’ve found that a good way for me to share my experience is to write about it. I love being a woman and I know I’ll dedicate my life to fighting this feminist fight. I’m just beginning. Here’s to twenty years, and 80 more. Before the celebrations begin, here’s a gift poem from me to you. My sixth grade English teacher first introduced me to “gift poems,” and now I’m paying it forward with a slight variation—a gift of prose. Here’s a little thing for all my fellow feminists, and most importantly my mom (because twenty years ago on April 28, she was doing a hell of a lot of work).

The Collective We

We get distracted by pronouns used in class. We search for faces in rows of gold-framed portraits hung on university walls. We see our bodies in movies, magazines and we learn to hate the angle of our nose, the touch of our thighs. We leave the house, a spectacle, delectable, daring to ignore those calls, those alleged compliments. Can we fight this together? We hear our abuse in lyrics, click the radio off. We feel the gaze, it’s hot on our skin, scalding. We avoid mirrors, forever unsatisfied because we don’t reflect what’s been constructed. We fear age, fear clocks, fear late night walks. Alone. Can we fight this together? We fold our bodies inward, self-conscious origami, make ourselves small, feel we are flawed. We don’t raise our hands, our voices, our chins because courage looks ugly on us. We are leaders, just like you. We are emotional beings, but so are you. We work and we want pay, the same as you. Let’s put our faces up next to yours. Let’s write with voices as strong as yours. Let’s solve this problem, because it’s also yours.

xxC

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https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/04/27/a-birthday-gift/feed/1cdbartson10615381_10202518870428349_4281986803552087316_nCheck out my latest opinion on the Berkeley Beacon– “Fast Fashion’s lasting woes”https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/check-out-my-latest-opinion-on-the-berkeley-beacon-fast-fashions-lasting-woes/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/check-out-my-latest-opinion-on-the-berkeley-beacon-fast-fashions-lasting-woes/#respondTue, 03 Mar 2015 22:09:14 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=124Read more Check out my latest opinion on the Berkeley Beacon– “Fast Fashion’s lasting woes”]]>Before you swipe your cash card and pick up new digs at Forever21 this weekend, give my latest opinion work a read. I urge you to know the stories behind the clothes you buy and think before you pop tags.

“We’re blasted with statistics and images of poverty and pollution from far away places, but rarely do we consider the surprisingly intimate connection we may share with a woman halfway across the globe. It’s even more rare for us to act to improve this relationship. Spending responsibly on clothes is mutually beneficial for both the low-wage working producers and American consumers, and our dollars would go further if spent on higher quality clothes or thrifted buys. If we examine the oppressed perspectives of our fast fashion producers, we can have a better understanding of how to improve our relationships with the global textile economy.”

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/check-out-my-latest-opinion-on-the-berkeley-beacon-fast-fashions-lasting-woes/feed/0cdbartsonForeplay: The Most Underrated Part of Sexhttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/foreplay-the-most-underrated-part-of-sex/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/foreplay-the-most-underrated-part-of-sex/#respondTue, 03 Mar 2015 22:02:23 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=121Read more Foreplay: The Most Underrated Part of Sex]]>“During a recent Sunday brunch with my crew, my girlfriend was retelling her night’s sexscapades and blurted out a now infamous line her guy dropped right before things got hot-and-heavy. They’re making out, and he comes up for air, takes her by the shoulders and says completely seriously, ‘Ok, wanna make a game plan?'”

And check out Pleasure Pie, a Boston organization all about sex positivity!

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/foreplay-the-most-underrated-part-of-sex/feed/0cdbartsonFor my “little sister,” nineteen things I wish I knew when I was sixteenhttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/for-my-little-sister-nineteen-things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-was-sixteen/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/for-my-little-sister-nineteen-things-i-wish-i-knew-when-i-was-sixteen/#respondSun, 11 Jan 2015 00:03:41 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=115Read more For my “little sister,” nineteen things I wish I knew when I was sixteen]]>This winter someone very close to me turned sixteen years old. She’s like my little sister. Our families have been bonded since our mothers became friends and roommates in their twenties. Now I’m nearly twenty, and it’s an age I’ve been thinking a lot about. Soon I’ll nod goodbye to teenagehood and shake hands with a new number, a new state of mind, chapter, and claim. I’ve always felt that you grow into an age—it takes time for the weight of that extra year to settle into your bones and for your mind to fill it out. Sixteen is significant. Sixteen is magnificent and hopeful and beautifully naïve and awkward. Twenty is also significant, and it marks a time to start passing along some knowledge. I couldn’t be with my “little sister” on her birthday, so I sent along a letter with a few things I wish I knew when I was sixteen. This was the product.

Here are nineteen things I wish I knew when I was sixteen:

1. I wish I knew that my mind was powerful and my thoughts are worthy of being heard
2. I wish I knew that being insecure is a massive waste of time
3. I wish I knew that spending time outside is so necessary for my mental health
4. I wish I knew high school social classes literally mean nothing
5. I wish I knew the pretty popular girls were feeling the same insecurities I felt—they all hated the way their thighs touched, the way their bangs made their forehead greasy, the way that one tooth stuck out
6. I wish I knew that boy liked me
7. I wish I knew I that talking to that boy was all it took
8. I wish I knew to speak up in class more because I had important things to say
9. I wish I knew to spend more time reading and less time scrutinizing the mirror
10. I wish I knew that going outside of my comfort zone gives me the biggest adrenaline rush
11. I wish I knew how to drive
12. I wish I knew that even on my loneliest nights, when I think that no one will ever crush on me the way I crush on that one guy, that somewhere out there, someone is writing about me or Facebook stalking me or thinking about me before they fall asleep at night
13. I wish I knew that understanding feminism is really important
14. I wish I knew that I have to let people in sometimes and that asking for advice when you’re having a rough time is a good way to do that—also that being vulnerable is actually a pretty damn strong thing to do
15. I wish I knew that being stressed out is really counterproductive
16. I wish I knew that doing things that scare you gets easier every time you do something that scares you
17. I wish I knew to not compare myself to everyone
18. I wish I knew to do what feels right for me
19. I wish I knew that sixteen is an amazing, magical age and that there’s so much to look forward to so stop dwelling on the past and start building who you want to be because life is really fun and time goes by really quickly

There are a few things that didn’t make it onto the list, however. So from my nearly twenty-year-old woman perspective, I want to add a few extra things that I’ve learned.

You should know that you’ll be distracted in class by the pronouns that are used. You’ll be frustrated when you only learn about the old white men, and only read the literature and essays and laws of old white men. You’ll know that it’s wrong you’re not represented. You’ll know that men are more likely to raise their hand and then get called on in class, so shoot your hand up frequently and speak clearly. You’ll pick up on all the micro aggressions dropped on the daily and you’ll start to understand all those underlying, fermenting feelings of self-doubt that have eaten away at your confidence for years. You’ll know that you live in a world that oppresses women. You’ll learn how you’ve been made to hate the way your stomach looks or the way your hair curls. You’ll understand why those comments about finding a nice doctor husband cut so deep. And then you’ll learn the words that will slice through these systems and break down all this bullshit. There’s a lot that you’ll learn, and it will hurt sometimes and leave you bruised, but you’re also going to learn to turn these experiences into power. And it’s going to be difficult, but you’re strong. Lift that chin and own it. Being a young woman is a very hard thing, but know that it’s also a very beautiful thing.

Back in October, a week before I left for Croatia for my fall travel break, I was bumming around the interweb, researching Croatian history, culture, and food (naturally), and I learned that the three-time Croatian Barista champion, called Nik Orosi, owned and operated a cafe in Zagreb called Elis Caffe. Croatians are incredibly passionate about coffee. Locals call drinking coffee their national pastime. I figured sipping coffee for hours in a beautiful setting was the best way for me to appreciate Croatian culture. I joked to my friends, musing about how cool it would be to meet this champion barista and have coffee with him. I took a shot in the dark and I sent him a Facebook message and tweeted at him. The next day, I received a response: He would love to make me coffee and show me around the city. When would I be in Zagreb?

I did not expect this. I was literally beaming. So on a hazy Saturday morning in Zagreb, I hopped on the public transport and headed over to Ilica, the busiest street in the capital.

Nik Orosi met me and a friend outside the shop. He was waiting for us. He escorted us inside, found a place for our coats, scarves, and luggage, and started making us coffee. We spent about an hour and a half in his coffee shop– sitting at the bar and slowly sipping cups of rich espresso expertly melded with luxurious folds of gold and white steamed milk. He showed me how to steam the milk, throw lattes, roast beans, and serve cups the proper way. I filmed with my iPhone, (I didn’t have any equipment during my travels), and followed Orosi around his shop, firing curious questions in between sips of coffee. Every time my coffee got slightly cold from me talking too much, he made me a new cup. Coffee needed to be hot and fresh.

Afterwards, he drove us to the central station so we could catch our train to Budapest. He showed us the city and told us about its history. Nik Orosi is a wonderful person and I hope I can return to Croatia and pay him a visit at Elis Caffe sometime in the future.

Here’s a little video showing a bit about coffee and its cultural importance in Croatia and between people all over the world. Nik taught me coffee is about connection and conversation. The most important things in our lives happen over cups of coffee– finding new friends, catching up with old friends, making amends, forming dreams, even falling in love. It’s necessary to have coffee breaks in life– and for reasons far beyond getting that caffeine fix.

Thank you for everything, Nik.

]]>https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2014/11/27/i-had-coffee-with-the-three-time-croatian-barista-champion-nik-orosi/feed/0elis-cafe-cappuccinocdbartsonThe Condomerie: erecting empowerment in Amsterdamhttps://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/the-condomerie-erecting-empowerment-in-amsterdam/
https://christinabartson.wordpress.com/2014/10/22/the-condomerie-erecting-empowerment-in-amsterdam/#respondWed, 22 Oct 2014 12:49:08 +0000http://christinabartson.wordpress.com/?p=87Read more The Condomerie: erecting empowerment in Amsterdam]]>It was noon on a Sunday when I watched a twenty-something man wearing a tweed jacket and red Adidas approach a young woman behind the shop’s counter. He folded his hands on the glass surface and gazed up at the shelves mounted on the wall.

“I’ll take a dozen Earl Greys please,” he said. The young woman nodded. She returned a few moments later and dumped 12 condoms on the countertop.

“That’ll be ten Euro, please,” she said.

Out of context this scene could be a parody, but at the Condomerie, the world’s first specialty condom shop, it’s business as usual.

I’ll take a dozen Earl Greys please

The latex treasure trove, located in Amsterdam’s Red Light District, has been selling condoms and advising customers about safe-sex since 1987.

The golden sign out front

Before its doors opened on Sunday, a group of people formed outside—peering into windows, pointing at brightly colored condoms strung across wires like holiday lights. Cartoon condoms with smiling faces and clown noses perched in the window display, welcoming in passerby.

The Condomerie is more than a business with an unusually stimulating storefront, though, said Theodoor van Boven, one of the shop’s founders. It’s erected a philosophy thrusting beyond novelty products and laughs. It’s an important institution in modern sexual history—dedicated to providing health-concerned guidance to ensure responsible, protected sex, he said. The idea is plentiful discourse leads to safe intercourse.

“We believe in openness, knowledge, and generating helpful conversation about sex,” said van Boven. “We’re safe sexperts at the Condomerie.”

A stimulating window display

The specialty shop was founded in the eighties by van Boven, Mirijke Vilijn, and Ricky Jansen. On April 10, 1987, the three friends sat in a bar in Amsterdam discussing AIDS, a disease widely pervading the thoughts and bodies of people since the start of the decade. It was clear that protection had become essential for everyone, said van Boven.

However, there were sparse contraceptive options available and insufficient sexual health information, Vilijn said.

“The only place to get advice was the pharmacy and they only sold Durex,” said Vilijn. “We needed more information and more choices.”

One month later, the Condomerie opened its doors. Vilijn said it quickly became a place people flocked to for information and choices—combining important ingredients of empowerment. Over the years, Vilijn said it’s upheld its pledge to advocate protection while furthering accessibility, and people still fill the shop every day. In fact, the Condomerie gets about 600,000 to 1.2 million visitors each year, said Vilijn.

A young woman flipped the “closed” sign to “open” and people spilled into the shop. Chatter and giggles filled the high, airy ceilings and people bustled about, curiosity guiding feet across the hardwood floors of the small space.

Ninka Lavir works at the Condomerie, and has been helping customers navigate this latex jungle for two years.

“Choice is important,” said Lavir, echoing the philosophy of the shop’s founders. Lavir said the options can be overwhelming, and offering educated advice is a central part of her job.

“It’s important you use the right kinds of products for your body,” said Lavir. She said she often gets questions about allergies to latex, sensitivities to materials in lubricants, and ill-fitting sizes.

The Condomerie boasts over 35 different condom brands, offered in nearly 10 sizes, and in a variety of materials, textures, thicknesses, scents, and flavors. There’s even features like glow-in-the-dark and vegan condoms, too.

“Everyone is different and it’s important to keep your body healthy,” said Lavir.

One size doesn’t fit all—but one price doesn’t fit all wallets either. The Condomerie strives to make protection available to all. You can get three condoms for €.59, 12 for €1.20, or even 144 pieces for €14.20.

“Practicing safe sex shouldn’t be expensive,” said Lavir.

Selling condoms doesn’t need to be boring either. There’s a five-foot multi-colored paper maché condom suspended above the left side of the shop. Underneath the sheath, there’s a glass case featuring novelty condoms—windmills, skyscrapers, the Eiffel Tower. It’s like Willy Wonka opened a condom shop.

“We sell nonsense and it’s very important,” said van Boven, who previously worked as a freelance cartoonist. He said they’ve applied the power of humor to the Condomerie.

“Jokes make serious matters more accessible,” said van Boven. “Comedy opens people up.”

At the front of the shop, customer Naomi Gartias, an advertising professional touring from Puerto Rico, peered into a glass case of condoms hand-painted to look like animals. She pointed out a giraffe to her friend, and threw her head back and laughed.

“We came in because it’s nice to see something different,” said Gartias. “It’s also a good gift for our friend. We thought we could make a laugh out of it.”

Strictly sexual decoration

It’s evident in the faces of customers, the big eyes, pointing, and subsequent eruption of laughter, that the Condomerie achieved something it set out to do—make safe sex fun.

“Our very existence has erased the taboo of selling and purchasing condoms,” said van Boven.

The brightly colored latex may have initially drawn Garatias in, but she said appreciates the shop’s philosophy as much as its products.

“It’s a really good concept,” she said. “Protection is something that you should sponsor in every country. We’re from a country that is a little bit too puritanical and moralist and there are a lot of younger pregnancies.”

Although the Condomerie is located in a progressive country, in a city that hosts arguably the most open sex culture, Van Boven said there’s friction in government sponsored reproductive rights in the Netherlands, too.

The fight for sponsoring safe sex is still ongoing in most corners of the world, said van Boven. We’re all a bit too prudish when it comes to talking about sex, he said, and a more open approach would be beneficial to the world’s health. Sex is an enjoyable part of life and we should approach it from an empowered place, not an embarrassed place, he said.

“Everyone can use a bit more lubrication,” said van Boven.

The Condomerie provides that lubrication—from education, choice, and accessibility, it’s helping people navigate sex with a little more ease.

A lot of choices here

I take you to the candy shop

I’m not really sure what to say about this one

Funny story, I actually interviewed van Boven while helping stock shelves in the back of the shop.